A business or company that provides services and/or products may provide their customers with customer service in the form of a call center that handles customer requests by telephone. Examples of customer requests are requests for new products or services, support for a product or service, or answers to questions about a product or service. In non-automated systems, when a customer calls the call center with a request, a live agent manually routes the call to another agent who handles the customer's request.
Call centers have changed greatly since they were first introduced. Nowadays, the systems which implement them usually include a large software component. They are integrated into telephone exchanges, more particularly into private branch exchanges.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are automated systems that provide information in the form of recorded messages over telephone lines in response to customer input in the form of spoken words or touch tone signaling. Examples of IVR systems are those implemented by banks, which allow customers to check their balances from any telephone, and systems for providing automated stock quotes. IVR systems generate significant cost savings due to their ability to route calls without having to incur the cost of a live agent to accomplish the routing. The automation can go beyond routing and be used to respond to the call with a fully or partially automated response system.
The automated handling of incoming customer calls can sometimes result in the customer being placed on hold. Often, when the customer is placed on hold, the customer is provided with a message that notifies the customer of an expected duration of the wait. The handling of hold times can greatly affect the level of customer satisfaction with the company.